tHEcONCH

Just buy a complete replacement, take your pic: http://shopping.msn.com/prices/shp/?itemId=22727580 http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~ ... S3113.html

Not too far away in fact...

This episode of Beyond the Darklands touched on this and might be worth viewing if you can track down a copy: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1524007 It basically claimed that they work as a last resort for this kind of guy, for the same reasons gangs do. I'm not sure it is that simple.

Actually you can have conditional sale/purchase contracts so although they are probably within their rights I agree that an Auction isn't the best way for them to sell the fish.

When I use the Phosphate one, I wipe the 'mound' off the top of the spoon with the inside of the bottle so that it is, in fact, level.

Nope, but it is adjacent to civilisation...

Hmmm... a set of plans just came across my desk that show a large commercial fishery is about to build MASSIVE COPEPOD PRODUCTION AND STORAGE TANKS for a marine breeding complex in the South Island...

Make sure you have plenty of 'munge' available for them - decomp wood and leaves etc, and JBL Tabis seem good too. Without it, you can expect a complete die-off after three weeks or so.

They are a cool looking but inactive fish. Unless they are spawning, they are snoring. The novelty wears off pretty quickly.

I know how he feels

John's display tanks. I've got a population in my own RSM, but I want to make sure there is plenty of live food for everyone.

Yea, he pecks at rocks, and roams about the corals pecking at things, but his 'workrate' if you like is just much lower. I guess he hasn't been in there that long and might take longer to recover from quarantine etc, or maybe I'm just being a little paranoid. :-?

Lack of food. He was quite thin when I got him, and although he's eating lots he's just nowhere near as active as the female - although maybe that's normal? She is forever whiring about whereas he tends to just hang around in the back of the tank on the ground, ocassionally whizzing up the back wall. Always on for a bit of nookie when the lights go out, so who knows? I'll just keep making food available and hope he gets a bit more confident and active. Incidentally, I tipped a dozen or so small live mysids/mysis in last night. The female made a bee-line for them and chased one under a rock, then dug it out with her fin before chomping it! Quite suprising to see - she really did hunt it!

L270 - I sold 4 of these to a local fella who wanted to breed them (I got several spawns but never raised the young) - I will see how he got on, but be warned, they aren't cheap!

Hatchets or rocket pencils.

They do a little dance most nights, but I've only actually seen them 'squirt' a couple of times - although Ive been nursing a sick Oscar for the last couple of weeks and haven't been watching them as often as I would otherwise. Its all over fairly quickly. I'm actually a little worried about the male - he's just nowhere near as active as the female, and despite a lot of supplemental feedings with live critters just doesn't seem to be fattening up. I'm going to do a big water change in my RSM tonight, take the old RSM water and put it in my random critters tank, and then let him loose in the random critters tank to gourge himself. If that doesn't help, I'll just have to assume that he already has organ damage

Cheer up Emo!

And you have to prune the plants just about every week too.

A-ha!

Does anyone know where I can get any? - a tropical / warm water variety

If this is some sort of Council maintenance shutdown then you'll probably find that the power will be off for a far shorter amount of time. I'd just keep everything plugged in and switched on, chuck a blanket over the tank to keep the temperature from dropping too quickly, and maybe use a battery powered airpump if you have a heavily stocked tank. Once the power is back on, do one of those old fashioned water change things.

They should all be fine, although Golden Algae eaters are not very friendly fish and will pose a threat to the other fish once they get a bit bigger - I'd recommend you don't get one of those.

Oscars!

No prob - I always have cunning plans to visit places when I'm working in our Wellington or Auckland office, but time always seems to run short.

Normal behaviour for them, Dixon - nothing to worry about.